[plt-scheme] package management issues

> > It only needs to play nice to the extent that it doesn't create files
> > where the host platform's package system wants to create files.
> 
> ...and it needs to tell the native system what it did, so that the
> latest compatible version of the package is used and not "hidden" by
> an old/new one installed by the other system.

I think you might be going to an awful lot of work to try to enforce
something that you can't in the general case.

Howso?  Because already we have multiple collection trees that are
outside of the purview of the native package system. In addition to
"/usrlib/plt/collects", there is also "/home/amy/plt/collects" and
"/home/bob/my-fav-plt-collects".  Both Amy and Bob use PLTNET to install
various and sundry PLT packages with impunity.  The PLT collection-
finding code takes an ordered list of directories to search, and Amy and
Bob have put their respective collection directories at the beginnings
of their respective lists, potentially overriding packages that are
installed system-wide.

This seems conceptually simple.  I don't think the scenario of some
system administrator deciding to install HtmlPrag *twice* system-wide
(once via PLTNET, and once via the native package system) is so dire.

Of course, if someone wants to tackle the problem of how to integrate
with the multitude of different package systems, more power to them.

-- 
                                             http://www.neilvandyke.org/